Storage-battery electrode and process of making same.



v I V/[VEASES EKMM H. C. HUBBELL. STORAGE BATTERY ELECTRODE AND PROCESSOF MAKING SAME. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 7, 1911' 1,686,666, Patented Feb.10, 1914.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BARRY cnoss HUBBELL, or NEWARK, new JERSEY.

STORAGE-BATTERY ELECTRODE AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAME.

abscess.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that LIL-may CROSS.HUB BELL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Storage-BatteryElectrodes and Processes of Making Same, of whichthe following is aspecification.

My present invention relates to an improved storage battery electrode,being specifically. a plate of special construction wherein oxygencompounds of iron are the active material.

It further relates to the process for making said ,plate.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows a plate consisting of alternate layersof different metals; and Fig. 2 shows this plate after it has been cutup into bars 1, as along the lines 1 of Fig. 1, and after these barshave been rearranged toform a storage battery plate wherein the layersare disposed edge wise to the faces 2 and 3 of the plate, that is, inFig. 2 the surfaces H are placed in abutment.

I will now describe my improved electrode-plate and the process for itsmanufacture, reserving it to the claims to point out the novel featuresand to define the scope of the invention, it beingunderstood that theclaims will be interpreted to have the due range of equivalents to whichthey may be entitled in view of the art.

I will first describe the process of making the electrode wherein Istart with a. sheet made up in any preferred manner of alternate layersof iron and cadmium, the layers being preferably of film-like thickness.An obvious way of making the sheet will be by successiveclectro-depositions of the metals until the desired aggregate thicknessfor the sheet is reached. I then cut up this sheet into bars which Ithen arrange side by side in the shape of the finished electrode-plate,with the layers of the bars directed edgewise to the faces of saidplate. Each set of ends of the bars are then integrally united,preferably by fusing them with an oxyhydrogen or acetylene flame so thateach set of ends are in perfect electrical connection along the sideedges of the plate. Anoi her method of uniting the barsis by bind- .flQmtogether in a surrounding frame a a. suitable metal; such as iron ornickel. time again, however, the ends of thebars Specification ofLetters Patent.

Application filed June 7, 1911.

Patented Feb. 10, 1914.

Serial No. 631,763.

are preferably fused to. said frame to insure perfect electricalconnection. A convenient size for the electrode-plate is about one inchby live inches by three-sixteenths of an inch thick.

The mechanical features of obtaining the so called bars fromthe sheetand their assembhng into a plate with their layers disposed edgewise tothe faces thereof are the same as illustrated in the drawings and in mycopending United States application, Serial No. 631,271, filed June 5,1911. I now may proceed in different ways. Thus I may distil out thecadmium layers by heating the plate, preferably in a gas which is inertto cadmium such as hydrogen, leaving the iron which I may thensuperficially form with electrolytically active oxid by making the platean anode in a dilute solution of phenol containing alkaline phenolate orsome other suitable electrolyte, such as a dilute alkaline solution ofsodium chlorid, sulfate, nitrate, etc. As an alternative to the abovedistilling step, I may electrolytically dissolve out the cadmium layersby making the plate an anode in a suitable electrolyte, which will takeout the cadmium Without removing the iron. In any event the resultingplate consists ofnumerous thin strips of iron arranged in close face toface parallelism disposed edgewise to the superfioies of the plate andseparated by intermediate layers of electrolytically active iron oxygencompounds.

In the above process I may start with a sheet consisting of layers ofiron alternating (instead of cadmium) with layers of zinc or tin orequivalent metals under the conditions. These zinc or tin layers I thendissolve out of the assembled bars to leave the iron stripsby making theplate an anode in an alkaline electrolyte, preparatory to replacing saidla ers with the iron active material.

\Vhat I claim is:

1. A storage battery electrode comprising a plate consisting of numerousthin strips of iron arranged in close face to face parallelism disposededgewise to the faces of the plate and being separated by intermediatelayers of electrolytically active iron oxygena plate oonslstingofnumerous thin'striag of iron' arranged in close face to face parlelisrn disposed edgewise to the. faces either plate and beingsuperficially formed with electrolytically active iron oxygen compounds.

3. The process of making a storage battery electrode which comprisesuniting into a plate alternate layers of iron and of a cadmium-likemetal with the layers disposed edgewise to the faces of the plate,removing the cadmium-like layers, and forming the iron layers withelectrolytically active oxygen compounds. I

4. The process of making a storage battery electrode which comprisesuniting into ,a plate alternatedayers of iron and of a cadmium-likemetal with the layers disposed edgewise to the faces of the plate,removing the cadmium-like layers, and forming the iron layers withelectrolytically active'oxygen compounds by making the plate an anode in'an aqueous solution of plienpl containing alkaline phenolate. i

5. The process of making a storage battery electrode which comprisesuniting into a plate alternate of iron and of cadmium with the layersdisposed edgewise to the faces of the plate, distilling out the cadmiumlayers, and forming the iron layers with electrolytically active ironoxygen compounds.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature in presence of twoWitnesses.

HARRY CROSS HUBBELL.

